"Speak of the devil."
Looking at both of them already sitting in the White Space, Naruto Elric was a little surprised by the sight. One Piece Elric being here wasn't particularly unusual—the guy didn't have anything important to do in his world anymore, having already reached the peak of power. So this lazy bastard liked to hang around in the White Space quite a lot, just killing time and chatting whenever he felt bored.
But Marvel Elric was different. He seemed to be quite busy with his own world. So he rarely came here outside of their fixed weekly meetings. His unexpected presence meant something significant was happening.
"What brings you here, our most important guest?" he asked with exaggerated formality, spreading his arms in a welcoming gesture.
Instead of answering with words, one piece Elric simply threw something in Naruto Elric's direction.
Naruto Elric caught it instinctively, his body moving before his mind fully registered what was happening.
And the moment the object touched his hand, an instinctual hunger welled up inside him—a primal, overwhelming craving that bypassed all rational thought and struck directly at his core. It was like suddenly being starved for weeks and having food placed directly in your palm.
As the original owner of this power, he felt the pull most intensely. The connection was undeniable, fundamental, calling to something deep in his very DNA.
He subconsciously blurted out, his eyes widening with shock and recognition, "Chakra fruit?"
Marvel Elric had taken a Ten-Tails branch to plant a God Tree on the sleeping Celestial buried deep inside Earth's core—a long-term project that should have taken decades, maybe even centuries to bear fruit. The energy drain alone should have been a slow, gradual process. He hadn't expected to get results so quickly, not by a long shot.
Sensing the relatively small amount of energy contained inside this fruit, Naruto Elric immediately understood it was unlikely the full harvest of a Celestial's energy. That kind of power would have created something massive—a fruit the size of a house at minimum, perhaps even larger.
But even though the quantity was modest, sensing its intensity, the concentrated quality and refinement of the power within, it was definitely very valuable. Perhaps even more valuable than a larger fruit with diluted energy would have been.
I just stumbled upon an ownerless dimension....
Hearing this explanation, the same sentence automatically began forming in Naruto Elric's mouth, his lips already moving to shape the words: "You lucky—"
But he was immediately intercepted by Marvel Elric's intense, almost aggressive rebuke.
"You bastard, stop right there! Don't you dare finish that sentence!" Marvel Elric pointed an accusing finger directly at Naruto Elric's face. "One of the strongest beings in your entire world—Isshiki Ōtsutsuki himself, just came one day and literally died after giving all his power and memories directly to you!"
Marvel Elric's voice rose with emphasis. "You are definitely not allowed to call anyone else lucky. Ever. That's the rule."
Naruto Elric paused. Then he nodded slowly, conceding the point with a slight grimace. "Okay, you've got a fair point there. I'll shut up."
It was true, after all. His own acquisition of Otsutsuki power had been absurdly, almost impossibly fortunate.
"Anyway," Marvel Elric continued, his tone becoming more businesslike and urgent, "quickly eat it. I need to see what happens and whether there are any side effects."
Naruto Elric turned the small fruit over in his hands, examining it carefully from every angle. "No problem, but are you absolutely sure it'll be fine? This isn't from some weird dimension, right?"
It was a legitimate concern. Different dimensions had different laws of physics, different energy types, different fundamental rules. Mixing them carelessly could have catastrophic results.
Compared to the Marvel version of himself, both One Piece Elric and Naruto Elric had experienced fairly good, relatively stable childhoods—loving parents, supportive communities. Even though they were technically the same person at a soul level, the same consciousness reincarnated across realities, Marvel Elric was far more mature and pragmatic compared to both of them. He'd been forced to grow up faster, to think harder, to plan more carefully.
So he was almost like a leader to them, the responsible eldest brother figure despite being the same age in terms of actual reincarnation time.
"Don't be a bitch," One Piece Elric interjected with a laugh, slapping Naruto Elric on the shoulder. "Just eat it already. What's the worst that could happen?"
"Famous last words," Naruto Elric muttered, though his tone was more joking than genuinely worried.
"Dude, if I become some weird monster with tentacles or turn into an eldritch abomination, I'm haunting you first," Naruto Elric said, pointing at Marvel Elric with seriousness.
"Stop saying it like that," Marvel Elric replied with clear exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Besides, we'll only absorb the power not any physical transformation or appearance changes.
Naruto Elric hesitated for just a moment longer, examining the fruit one final time with both his physical eyes and his chakra-enhanced perception. It really did look harmless enough—just a small, glowing thing about the size of a strawberry, with subtle patterns swirling beneath its surface.
Finally, he shrugged with acceptance. "Here goes nothing."
He brought the fruit to his mouth and bit into it decisively, chewing quickly and finishing the entire thing within one bite. The taste was indescribable—not pleasant or unpleasant, just fundamentally other. Like tasting pure energy given physical form, or trying to eat compressed starlight.
It didn't take much time for the effects to manifest.
Moments after he swallowed the last bit, feeling it slide down his throat, Naruto Elric's whole body started to glow with an ethereal light. It began as a faint shimmer across his skin, then intensified rapidly—a soft, pulsing radiance that seemed to emanate from within his very cells rather than from any external source.
The glow grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the entire White Space with shifting, dancing colors that ranged from deep ocean blue to brilliant pure white, with hints of gold and silver swirling throughout.
But fortunately, nothing weird happened. No grotesque mutation. No loss of control. No screaming or pain. No transformation into some eldritch horror.
The ethereal glow subsided as quickly as it had started, fading away over the course of perhaps thirty seconds like a candle being gently snuffed out, leaving an intact and seemingly unchanged Naruto Elric standing there looking slightly dazed but otherwise completely normal.
He quickly looked down at his body with wide eyes, examining his hands with careful scrutiny, checking his torso for any abnormalities, feeling his face to make sure everything was still in the right place. Everything seemed exactly as it should be—no extra limbs, no strange growths, no unexpected changes to his physical form.
He let out a long, relieved sigh, his shoulders relaxing. "Fortunately, everything is intact."
After thoroughly inspecting his physical form and confirming there were no unwanted external changes, Naruto Elric closed his eyes and focused his attention inward. He directed his consciousness toward his energy center, examining what had actually changed within his body at the fundamental level.
The expected massive energy increase didn't happen.
His chakra reserves had increased, yes, but the growth was very little—so negligibly small that it might as well not have happened at all. Maybe a one to two percent increase at most, possibly even less than that.
According to his already massive energy pool, that one or two percent was perhaps a significant absolute amount. Maybe power a Tailed Beast Bomb or two. But overall, relative to his total capacity, it was completely negligible. Barely worth mentioning.
But he also noticed a huge, fundamental difference in his chakra that had absolutely nothing to do with quantity.
He couldn't quite articulate what had happened to it in words, but it felt fundamentally transformed. Better. Stronger. More refined at a level that went beyond simple measurement.
If before his chakra had been something like water—fluid, adaptable, useful, but ultimately just energy in its raw, unprocessed state—now it was like blood. Thicker. More vital. More alive. It carried weight and substance and meaning that it simply hadn't possessed before.
Every drop of his chakra now felt denser, more potent, more effective. It was the same volume, but compressed and purified until it became something qualitatively superior.
Even though his total energy capacity hadn't increased significantly in terms of raw amount, the quality and potency of his power had jumped immensely. It was like comparing cheap steel to Damascus steel—same basic material, but vastly different in every way that actually mattered.
Every application of his abilities would be amplified by this new refinement, this fundamental improvement to the very nature of his power.
Naruto Elric opened his eyes, and a genuine smile of satisfaction and wonder spread across his face. "You really gave me a huge surprise this time," he said with honest appreciation. "This is... incredible. The quality improvement alone is worth far more than simply doubling my energy reserves would have been."
"Good," Marvel Elric said with clear satisfaction, nodding approvingly. Then his expression shifted, becoming more urgent and businesslike. "I need to get back to my world immediately. I have work to do, unlike you two lazy bums who can afford to sit around chatting and showing off."
"Who are you calling a lazy bum?" Naruto Elric retorted immediately, his pride instantly stung by the accusation. "You can say that about this one—" he pointed directly at One Piece Elric with an accusing finger, "—but me? I'm actively managing an entire clan! I have responsibilities!"
"Hey!" One Piece Elric protested loudly, his easy grin finally fading into an offended expression. "Who are you pointing at like that? You're just as bad as I am! You're literally just staying safe in your home doing absolutely nothing productive. Does anyone even know your name outside the Uzumaki Clan? You're completely anonymous to the wider world!"
"It's not a waste of time—it's strategic patience!" Naruto Elric defended himself heatedly, his voice rising. "I'm waiting for the inevitable attack from the four ninja villages. Did you forget the timeline? Did you forget how the Uzumaki Clan's destruction is supposed to happen?"
He gestured emphatically. "After they make their move and attack us, thinking we're vulnerable, I can crush them completely and do whatever I want with the entire ninja world. They'll have fired the first shot. They'll be the aggressors. I'll have complete moral justification."
Naruto Elric's eyes gleamed. "Why should I become the villain and unite everyone against me when a perfect opportunity exists for them to strike first? It's basic strategy—let your enemy make the mistake, then capitalize on it ruthlessly. Unlike you, who just sits around because you want to, with no actual long-term plan."
"I have a plan!" One Piece Elric shot back defensively. "It's called 'being so overwhelmingly powerful that detailed plans become unnecessary.' And it's working great, by the way!"
"That's not a plan, that's just being lazy with extra steps—"
"Okay, enough!" Marvel Elric interrupted sharply. "I'm leaving before you two start an actual fight."
He reached out and placed his hand firmly on top of Naruto Elric's head.
The process took only a few seconds.
Then Marvel Elric directly vanished in a brilliant flash of white light.
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